Modern Mongols

Harrison Goodrich

Professor Sagstetter

Blog #6

HH215

Modern Mongols

During the 13th and 14th Centuries, the Genghis Khan led Mongols wreaked havoc in an area that spread between the modern-day Baltic States and China’s East Coast. The Mongols had an unparalleled level of skill when it came to delivering death and fear to the unfortunate souls that opposed them. The almost mythical level of chaos the Mongols possessed was born from their brutal slayings of innocent people.  In the 21st century, the Mongol’s actions would definitely be dealt with military intervention by the United States of America. Studying the Mongols will be useful in our careers as officers in the fleet because organizations that gain their power from fear tactics and gruesome slayings are still in the world today. The Islamic State is an example of a terrorist organization that refuses to abide by laws, and proudly boasts about their ability to kill innocent men, women and children by putting videos on the internet. By studying the Mongols, it will give us a historical insight into how these groups came into power and what caused them to eventually fail.

While the Mongols did not have modern day social media to spread fear, there are still accurate description of their actions. Such as  in Ibn al-Athir’s The Secret History of the Mongols, the author is crippled by the fear that the Mongol’s actions create. He watches them murder women and the unborn babies in their wombs. The Mongols did this to spread fear and force people to submit to them. By making themselves so feared, sometimes they didn’t even have to go to war to conquer. This is very similar to how terrorist groups such as Islamic State spread fear by posting videos of themselves online beheading people and burning children alive. Opposition to the Islamic State by locals is unlikely because they want to live. As officers, it is important to understand that when groups use such tactics, military intervention by a world power is likely. In most cases it is the United States military. It is also important to understand why these groups have to resort to such tactics. Is it because they want to appear stronger than they actually are? Is it because of skewed religious beliefs? Or is it simply because they can? By studying the Mongols we can learn more about future adversaries who abide by no law and without a conscience.

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